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Purple Dave23 Jun 2019, 19:48:00 Oh, I absolutely expect there are generational upgrades with the machines. It's the only logical explanation for why all printed European torsos get a patch of print on the neck, while all printed Chinese torsos have plain necks. Some part of the older production processes still in use in Europe obviously requires that patch on the neck, and since the colored patch is _much_ older than printed backs, my guess has always been that it's used to make sure the torso is oriented correctly before the arms are attached. Arms probably get in the way of the printing pads, while legs are easy to print after they've been assembled. Chinese equipment is probably new enough that they can simply use pattern recognition to identify the specific print instead of relying on such a primitive recognition method. A quick check shows that at least four colors can be printed per side on a non-Chinese torso, but I was also able to find two of the Target cube minifigs (City's Swamp Police from TC1, and Legend of Chima's Sir Fangar from TC2) that each have five colors printed on the front of the torso. Both cubes contain parts from Denmark, Mexico, and China, with additional parts for TC1 from Hungary. A quick pass over S1-11 shows that both of the tin-toy robots from S6 and S11, and the fairy from S9 all have at least five different colors of print on the torso, so their Chinese operation was capable of at least that many, or they were willing to reload them for a second pass on occasion. Given that _some_ double-sided heads still show up where one face is a bit cockeyed from the other, I suspect that all double-sided heads are printed in two passes, at least in Europe. Delete
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